WKU falls to Minnesota in opening round of NCAA Tournament

Published 5:32 am Friday, December 6, 2024

by Micheal Compton

LEXINGTON — The Western Kentucky women’s volleyball team did everything it wanted in Thursday’s opening round of the NCAA Tournament against Minnesota at Memorial Coliseum.

Well, almost everything.

Despite holding advantages in most categories on the stat sheet, it was Minnesota not WKU who moved on to the second round. The Gophers were able to eke out a couple of sets controlled by WKU, propelling Minnesota to a 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 25-23) victory.

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The loss snapped WKU’s 24-game win streak and a streak of six straight wins in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

“This is one of those once every couple year matches where you pick up a box score afterwards,” WKU coach Travis Hudson said. “You know, we out-hit Minnesota, we out-blocked Minnesota, we out-dug Minnesota and still found our way to the bottom of the score. It sure doesn’t happen very often in our sport, but it happened today.”

WKU (28-7) came out in the first set locked in a battle with Minnesota, with the lead bouncing back and forth.

The Hilltoppers built a 14-11 lead midway through the set, but the Golden Gophers answered with four straight to briefly surge in front. A Kenadee Coyle kill gave the momentum back to WKU, with the Hilltoppers pushing the margin to 19-16. Minnesota (21-10) regained the advantage with a 5-1 spurt to take the lead 21-20.

A kill from Izzy Van De Weile tied the set, but the Golden Gophers scored four out the last five points to secure the first set.

Minnesota used a 6-0 run to build an 11-5 margin to take control of the second set. WKU struggled at the service line all night with 18 service errors — six coming in the second set. Most of those errors came at times when the Hilltoppers were trying to start rallies.

WKU was able to fight off two set points before Minnesota got a kill from Lydia Grote to close it out and go up 2-0.

“Serving obviously is going to be a big question,” Hudson said. “I’m with you on that. I mean, serving is the area you’ve got to attack Minnesota. I don’t know if we talked about it too much or what we did, but we just weren’t good from the service line, clearly.”

WKU came to life in the third set, keeping within striking distance before closing with a 7-0 run — capped by two kills from Coyle — to force a fourth set.

The Hilltoppers appeared headed to a fifth set, leading 19-14 before a service error sparked a 5-0 run from Minnesota. WKU was able to get the lead back to 23-21, but Minnesota scored four straight to close it out and eliminate the Hilltoppers.

“We were really in control of the first and the fourth sets,” Hudson said. “I’m not surprised Minnesota fought their way back in. When you’re in the Big Ten you’re tested every night. You know you’re not going to rock them to the point where they stop playing. So I wasn’t surprised they were closing. To be honest, I like how we played down the stretch of that fourth set, I thought we continued to make plays. I felt good. I fully expected to be in a fifth set.”

Alivia Skidmore led WKU with 17 kills. Senior Kaylee Cox had 12 kills, despite not getting her first kill until late in the second set.

“I honestly don’t really know (about the slow start),” Cox said. “I was just going out there and playing my hardest. And sometimes it just doesn’t go the way that you want it to. I’m very proud of myself for fighting out of that hole, though. It’s hard whenever you’re getting into those matches and you start off slow to dig yourself out of that. So I’m proud of myself for getting out of that hole.”

Coyle and Faith Young added 11 kills each.

WKU finished with nine kills more than Minnesota, a .250 hitting percentage (with the Golden Gophers hitting .186), three more blocks and one more dig.

“First and foremost, congratulations to Western Kentucky — a program that plays things at the highest level,” Minnesota coach Keegan Cook said. “I thought they looked like they normally do, a talented offensive team that can put some service pressure on you as well. I thought they were good. I thought they were better than us for long stretches. I am not surprised. I think Travis does an incredible job with his program, and I think a lot of young coaches should look at how he does things on and off the court and model what they do around him. I’ve watched him for a long time, so feeling fortunate to get to coach my team another night.”

The loss ends a season full of adversity for WKU.

WKU started 4-6 before winning the final three non-conference games. The Hilltoppers were 18-0 in Conference USA and secured its sixth straight tournament title – 10th in 11 years.

Hudson and associate head coach Craig Bere both sustained injuries the same night playing volleyball in late October – Hudson from a Lisfranc injury to his foot and Bere from a torn Achilles tendon, with each requiring surgery. They missed six games, including the final two road trips of the season.

“Having both of your head coaches go down right before you go down to UTEP, not the best, but before they even got hurt, Travis always says he likes it when it’s us against the world,” Coyle said. “We kind of took that and decided that this was how we were going to finish out the season. Twelve of us and the four coaches we had — it was going to be us against the world no matter where we went. I think banding together and just leaning on each other in every hard moment is the only way that you can get through stuff like that.”

About Micheal Compton

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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